Chapter Fifty-One
The next day was the Dragon Boat Festival. Emperor Xuanning was ill, and every palace was busy chanting scriptures and praying for his recovery. No one was visiting one another, much less inviting relatives into the palace, so the contest between Grayfeather and the parrots at Funing Palace, which she had arranged with Empress Dowager Chen, would have to be postponed.
Empress Dowager Chen had always showered her with gifts. Although Cui Lanyin had nothing of comparable value to give in return, she still wanted to show her affection.
A few days earlier, Cui Lanyin had asked Lady Jiang to draw her a novel ruyi-patterned design incorporating the character for “ten thousand.” During her free time in the evenings, she embroidered a forehead band for Empress Dowager Chen, as well as sachets for Qi An, Qian He, Aunt Gao, and Aunt Xia. As soon as she rose that morning, she had Buyu deliver them to Funing Palace.
She had managed to avoid visiting yesterday, but there was no way she could hide away on the Dragon Boat Festival. Cui Lanyin rose earlier than usual, intending to have breakfast with Prince Wei in his study.
Mugwort and calamus hung over every gate of Prince Wei’s residence. Aiye and Sangzhi had prepared water boiled with Aiye, eupatorium, and other medicinal herbs, and they served Cui Lanyin as she bathed.
She wore a water-green silk jacket embroidered with subtle images of the Five Poisons along its collar and sleeve edges, paired with an ivory-white pleated skirt. Silver thread embroidered mugwort-tiger patterns along the hem. A jade hair ornament shaped like mugwort adorned her hair, and in her hand she carried a round fan embroidered on both sides with a tiger’s head and a calamus sword. From head to toe, she was dressed perfectly for the festival.
She had just finished dressing and was about to leave when Buyu, who had gone to the palace, returned carrying a large bundle of packages. She reported to Cui Lanyin, “The moment Empress Dowager Chen received the forehead band, she put it on. Chief Steward Qi and the others also took off their old sachets and changed into the ones Second Miss sent.”
Seeing her small tokens treated with such importance, Cui Lanyin was delighted yet embarrassed. Pointing at the pile Buyu had set down, she asked, “Why did you bring back so much?”
“The Empress Dowager said they were for Second Miss to enjoy during the festival. Some of them can also be given to others.”
Cui Lanyin laughed and sighed. “Even when I don’t go, I never come away empty-handed. But how can I keep accepting all this?”
Aiye and Sangzhi opened the packages one by one. There were things to eat, things to play with, and things to wear. It was obvious that, knowing Cui Lanyin would be returning to her family home that day, Empress Dowager Chen had prepared everything for her to take along.
The chief steward had also prepared quite a number of gifts for her to bring home. Put together, the two sides had enough to fill half a carriage.
Aiye covered her mouth and giggled. “With so many things, why do I feel as though Second Miss has gotten married? Every time you go home, it’s as if you’re bringing gifts back to your maiden family.”
Who could say otherwise? She only went home for lunch and returned afterward, but after doing so several times, even Cui Lanyin had begun to feel the same way.
“Second Miss, are you heading to the study?” Buyu asked. “When I came in just now, I saw His Highness leave for the palace.”
Cui Lanyin asked anxiously, “Has something happened to His Majesty?”
“While I was in the palace, I heard everyone saying that His Majesty had improved considerably. There were many more palace servants moving about as well.”
Guessing that Prince Wei had wanted to pay his respects to Emperor Xuanning early because it was the Dragon Boat Festival, Cui Lanyin began to feel uneasy. She wished she had gone over the previous evening.
She had little appetite at breakfast, eating only two zongzi and leaving everything else untouched.
Cui Su had said that he would return around the beginning of the Si hour, so there was still some time. Cui Lanyin sat beneath the corridor teaching the parrot to speak.
Grayfeather had been released the day before yesterday, but after saying something that irritated Prince Wei, it had been confined to the rear garden again that evening.
Cui Lanyin was thinking that she would secretly bring it back from the garden after returning that afternoon, teach it some auspicious phrases, and have Grayfeather help win Prince Wei’s favor when she dined with him that evening.
A palace eunuch from the gate came to report, “Second Miss, Master Chilin requests an audience.”
Cui Lanyin hurriedly said, “Ask him to come in.”
Chilin entered soon after, and Cui Lanyin invited him to sit in the western side hall.
It had taken her several days to get used to calling Bailin by his name after dropping the formal title. This time, she also dispensed with calling Chilin “Master” and asked, “Has Uncle Cousin instructed you to come see me?”
“No.” Chilin looked somewhat dejected. “I have something to ask of Second Miss.”
All four of the Lin guards had neither a shortage of money nor a shortage of ability. Cui Lanyin could not imagine how she might help him. Seeing Chilin, who was usually so flamboyant, looking like this, she could not help being curious.
“Tell me.”
“Bailin and the others are useless. Only you can help me, Second Miss.” Chilin said, “Do you know what His Highness has done? He actually sent me to keep watch over the Li family’s rear compound. Any of the Lin guards could handle such a task, yet His Highness insisted on sending me. Please help me plead my case.”
“His Highness won’t listen to me about assigning duties, and it wouldn’t be proper for me to interfere.”
“Originally, I didn’t want to trouble you,” Chilin said frankly. “I thought that since it was the Dragon Boat Festival, His Highness might be in a better mood, and I could find an opportunity to ask him myself. I even rose early today and waited outside the study, hoping to be the first to enter and pay my respects. But it was all for nothing.”
Cui Lanyin unconsciously tensed. “What happened?”
“Bailin told you before, didn’t he? His Highness has a few days each month when he neither eats nor drinks and sleeps continuously. Well, according to Buyan, it started last night—no, technically yesterday evening. Last month, I remember it began after the middle of the month. Why has it started so early this month? If this continues, won’t it happen twice in a single month? That would be unbearable.”
Cui Lanyin remembered those days the previous month. They had been just before she went to Tianfu Temple to admire the cherry blossoms. It had been at its worst on the morning she left for the temple, when Prince Wei had said those heart-stopping words: “Everyone is merely a passerby,” and “In the end, everyone comes and goes alone.”
How could Cui Lanyin still care about Chilin’s request? She asked anxiously, “What is His Highness like this time?”
“According to Buyan, after we left yesterday evening, His Highness went to sleep without eating. He rose early this morning, but he didn’t speak or even snap his fingers. He took Gufeng and went straight to the palace.”
“He didn’t eat breakfast?”
“No.”
On the Dragon Boat Festival, without anyone saying a single comforting word to him, he had even gone to attend to matters without eating breakfast. Cui Lanyin’s nose stung, and she felt like a true ingrate. She had claimed that she would look after Prince Wei in his old age, but apparently those promises had been nothing more than empty words.
She had also said she would accompany him and talk with him every day, yet only a few days had passed, and she was already failing even to keep up appearances.
She could be more careful in the future, but what did it mean to avoid someone so abruptly like this?
Prince Wei was already standing at the edge of seeing through the world. How could she behave in a way that made him feel abandoned? Cui Lanyin berated herself relentlessly, calling herself an ingrate, a heartless wretch, a little cotton-padded jacket with holes in it, and worse, showing herself no mercy at all.
After being summoned to the study yesterday evening, Chilin had been utterly bewildered by the exchange between Prince Wei and Bailin—two and a half sentences going back and forth. Once they left the study, he had grabbed Bailin and questioned him for a long while, but he had not managed to get a single word out of him.
Chilin knew then that the matter concerned thoughts Prince Wei did not wish others to know. It was not something he was meant to understand, so he let it go.
But after receiving the news that morning, he thought the matter ought to have come to an end. He was not foolish, however. He knew that if he reported back to Prince Wei in this state, His Highness might well assign him some other troublesome task.
The person who had tied the knot would have to untie it. This matter would have to be resolved through Cui Lanyin. Besides, he had vaguely guessed that Prince Wei’s two remarks were likely connected to her.
Even if the two of them were still only uncle and niece, Cui Lanyin’s every action would certainly carry a different weight in Prince Wei’s eyes after he had revealed such an expression and spent such a night.
Thus, although he had originally intended to try Bailin, and then Qinglin or Xuanlin if Bailin proved useless, Chilin had skipped them all and come directly to Yi’an Hall to seek Cui Lanyin’s help.
Seeing that Cui Lanyin had grown distracted, Chilin tried to tell her something new to draw her attention back. “Second Miss, the Li family’s second branch sent for a physician yesterday to examine Li Yijin—but it wasn’t an imperial physician…”
At that point, Chilin realized there were some things he shouldn’t be telling Second Miss. He silently thanked his lucky stars and hurriedly glossed over it. “I’ve already passed the news on to the Li family’s first branch and Empress Dowager Li. The wedding between Prince Duan and Li Yijin will probably be moved up. I estimate it will take place this month.”
Obtaining an imperial physician was no simple matter. Why would they have to seek out an ordinary doctor from elsewhere? Cui Lanyin immediately understood. Li Yijin was very likely pregnant, and the tips of her ears began to redden.
Chilin raised a hand and flicked himself on the forehead, putting on a mournful expression. “I truly didn’t mean to offend you. I just want to report everything to Second Miss. His Highness might let me off, but please don’t let him punish me again.”
He felt he was beyond saving and no longer hoped Cui Lanyin would plead for him. He only prayed that she wouldn’t add this incident to his list of offenses.
Cui Lanyin sensed that something was amiss. “Were you sent to keep watch on the Li family’s back courtyard because of me?”
Chilin nodded mournfully. “It was because of what happened with Princess Kang. His Highness thought I had frightened Second Miss.”
Cui Lanyin had already been consumed by guilt. Hearing Chilin say that Prince Wei had taken his anger out on someone else for her sake only left her feeling even more unsettled.
“When my uncle comes back, I’ll ask him about it.”
“Thank you, Second Miss.” Chilin left, deeply grateful.
After Chilin had gone, Cui Su arrived. Only then did Cui Lanyin notice that he was no longer pestering Chiyun and Chiyue with questions. Moreover, Chiyun and Chiyue now treated him respectfully and addressed him as “Senior Brother Cui.”
Cui Lanyin was puzzled. “Regardless of age or how long you’ve been here, shouldn’t Cui Su be calling you Senior Sisters?”
Cui Su blushed shyly and refused to explain, so Chiyun said, “Among the Lin Guards, senior and junior brothers and sisters cannot be addressed casually. Senior Brother Cui learned his martial arts from the Four Elders, so all the Lin Guards under the command of Bailin, Qinglin, Chilin, and Xuanlin have to call him Senior Brother. It has nothing to do with age or who joined first.”
After meeting Uncle Bai and the other three elders, Cui Lanyin had gained a basic understanding of the three generations of Lin Guards. Uncle Bai and the other three were the four great elders of the Lin Guards. Prince Wei and the Four Lin had all been trained by them. The Four Elders, the Four Uncles, and the Four Lin formed the very core of the Lin Guards. Since Cui Su could study martial arts under the Four Elders, that meant his status within the Lin Guards was second only to that of the Four Lin.
She turned to Cui Su. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Cui Su answered seriously, “Second Sister, didn’t you tell me not to speak of anything concerning the estate to outsiders?”
Cui Lanyin patted him on the shoulder. “Look at me. Pretend I never asked.”
Chiyun and Chiyue, however, said, “There’s no need for Senior Brother Cui to hide anything from now on. Second Miss is not an outsider. We received orders long ago that anything Second Miss wishes to know may be told to her.”
Cui Su had not expected his own second sister to hold such a position in Prince Wei’s residence. He was not especially perceptive, but neither was he stupid. “I thought the Four Elders had taken a liking to me because of my brute strength. It turns out I only benefited from Second Sister’s influence.”
Considering all the kindness Prince Wei had shown her, and the fact that he had even handed over the entire princely residence for her to manage, Cui Lanyin truly was the most ungrateful white-eyed wolf in all the world.
Her heart was overgrown with weeds. She wished Prince Wei would return at once so that she could make amends somehow. Otherwise, she would never be able to sit at ease after returning home.
With her mind weighed down by worries, she boarded the carriage. The day before, Lady Jiang had sent someone over to say that the second branch had come to discuss celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival together. The family had already agreed.
By the time the siblings reached home, everyone was already dressed and waiting.
They brought out the gifts meant for the second branch, and the entire family set off for their residence.
On the way, Cui Lanzhi fretted, “I don’t know what to say when I see Eldest Sister-in-law later.”
Cui Lanyin asked, “Are Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt still dragging things out?”
“It’s mainly Eldest Aunt. She knows that once she lets Eldest Sister-in-law go, Cui Chang will never find another woman as good as her.”
“A marriage forced against someone’s will won’t be sweet. Even if she stays, they’ll only become a resentful couple. What’s the point?”
“Exactly.” Cui Lanzhi glanced toward Hong Ji to make sure he could not hear them, then lowered her voice and began speaking of her own affairs. “My mother-in-law heard that everything at our family home and at your residence had been settled, and that Empress Dowager Li and Prince Wei dote on you so much. She sent a letter trying to mend relations. She even said she would bring my eldest sister-in-law over to look after me during my pregnancy.”
“How shameless of her. What does brother-in-law have to say about it?”
“My husband wrote back and refused.” Cui Lanzhi’s gaze was so gentle it seemed almost ready to melt. “What his mother did this time broke his heart. He told me that he would still fulfill the filial duties he owed her, but he could no longer obey her in everything as he had before. He trusts our family more.”
They turned a corner and arrived at the passageway outside the second branch’s inner gate. The sisters stopped talking and followed the others inside.
Unlike Cui Sheng and Lady Jiang, Cui Mian and Lady Chang had separate sleeping quarters. The main residence of the second branch’s rear courtyard consisted of five rooms. Cui Mian occupied the two rooms on the east, while Lady Chang occupied the two on the west. Whenever the family needed to discuss something or dine together, they gathered in the central reception room.
At present, the men were escorted by Cui Mian to the study in the eastern wing, while the women went with Lady Chang to the sitting room in the western wing.
